NPA issues arrest warrant for Grace Mugabe

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has issued an arrest warrant for former Zimbabwean first lady Grace Mugabe.

Former Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe and first lady Grace Mugabe.Image: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Minority rights group AfriForum announced this during a press conference on Wednesday in Centurion.

“We can report that the warrant of arrest has been issued for Grace Mugabe,” said AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel.

“It seems that justice is going to take place and we are looking forward to this matter going forward.”

The Sunday Times reported in August that the South African government accepted a court ruling declaring the diplomatic immunity granted to Mugabe as invalid. The matter was then referred back to the NPA.

“The conferment of diplomatic immunity on [Mugabe] is null and void, as the court has decided. We leave it to the NPA to see the way forward‚” international relations and cooperation minister Lindiwe Sisulu said in August.

The DA and AfriForum applied to have Mugabe’s diplomatic immunity revoked after she allegedly assaulted South African model Gabriella Engels at a hotel in Johannesburg in 2017.

Mugabe allegedly assaulted Engels after she found the model partying with her two sons at a Sandton hotel.

Engels suffered serious injuries‚ including a gash on her forehead. While charges were laid‚ Mugabe was controversially allowed to leave the country after the government granted her diplomatic immunity.